Letter: Health care bill is immoral

May 17, 2017

To the Editor:

I called my representative, Peter Roskam, on May 2, gave my contact info, identified myself as a constituent and a member of the Network Lobby for Catholic Social Justice. I said I considered the health care bill to be unfair and immoral and asked Mr. Roskam to vote against it.

That night, I got an email from Rep. Roskam thanking me for contacting him to voice my support of the bill. When I called back the next morning, the staffer said they had taken lots of calls and it could have been a mistake. I told her I was personally offended and asked her to change their records, which showed I supported this terrible bill. She didn’t ask for my name or contact info. I said it would be convenient in this way to skew the data so that Mr. Roskam can say he voted as his constituents wanted. She did not respond or deny.

Mr. Roskam refuses to hold town halls, and now I have no assurance that messages I leave for him get through accurately. I must conclude that Peter Roskam, as my representative, is a sham.